Cleaning woman accused of stealing $38,000 in jewelry

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A West Palm Beach woman is accused of stealing more than $38,000 in jewelry from a customer while working for a house cleaning service.

The victim reported to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on September 27, 2016 that she found several pieces from her jewelry collection missing in the previous weeks.

She told PBSO she was unaware when the pieces went missing, but she had just recently realized that several pieces were missing.

The victim said she believed someone from her cleaning service may be responsible for the thefts because no one else has been in her residence.

She noted a total of 19 pieces of jewelry were missing at a total loss value of approximately $38,000. She provided descriptions of each piece and their approximate value.

PBSO investigators made contact with one of the owners of the cleaning company involved, Luxury Maids, Inc., and they refused to assist in the investigation by identifying the employees that have serviced the victim's residence.

After PBSO obtained a writ ordering the company to identify the employees involved in cleaning the victim's residence, investigators cross referenced the list of employees with several databases and found that one employee in particular had a history of pawning items.

PBSO says that employee, identified as Katiuska Noda, had pawned 8 items between May 29, 2016 and September 24, 2016. It appeared that she was only pawning jewelry.

PBSO investigators reviewed the descriptions of the items pawned and found that some items were similar in nature to those that the victim described in the initial report.

A PBSO investigator visited the pawn shops where Noda pawned the jewelry and discovered that all of the items pawned or sold by Noda since May 2016 had either been sold or melted down, with the exception of one piece - a gold ring with a large oval ruby stone and several diamonds that closely matched the description of the one reported stolen by the victim.

On November 29, 2016, the PBSO investigator made contact with Katiuska Noda via telephone and arranged an interview.

Noda was presented with her miranda rights, administered by a Spanish speaking deputy, and was questioned about the incidents.

PBSO says Noda admitted taking all of the jewelry in question and pawning it knowing that it was stolen property.

Noda said she took the jewelry while cleaning Sykes residence and pawned it because she needed money.

She was placed under arrest at the conclusion of the interview.

Noda was charged with Grand Theft of items greater than $20,000 and less than $100,000 and dealing in stolen property.

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